Appropriate Assistance

NPR: “the Trump campaign convinced the platform committee to change Denman’s proposal. It went from calling on the U.S. to provide Ukraine ‘lethal defensive weapons’ to the more benign phrase ‘appropriate assistance.'”

Yesterday, the House Intelligence Committee required both FBI director, James Comey, and NSA head, Michael Rogers to testify about current investigations into the possible connection/influence of Russia in our current administration.

There we direct denial of the claim from Number 45, that Obama had “wire tapped” him. No evidence. At all. Yet the current White House has not been asked to issue an apology.

The meeting went on to reveal a lot, and very little, as both witnesses are required by their positions to give non or vague answers when directly relating to the current, ongoing investigation. For the sake of the investigation, they cannot reveal any details.

Having watched the testimonies in almost their entirety, it’s hard to just bring up one small point. But that is the goal here at DFFL, so today’s little point in a big mess, is a comment from Rep. Rick Crawford of Arkansas, regarding the Republican platform.

Crawford states that the Republican Party Platform “retained all of the language from the original platform”, as well as “the portion of the amendment offered by the platform committee member.” He then quotes the RNC platform, now missing the previous language in action against Russia. “it says, quote, ‘We will meet the return of Russian belligerence with the same resolve that led to the collapse of the Soviet Union. We will not accept any territorial change in Eastern Europe imposed by force in Ukraine or elsewhere, and we’ll use all appropriate measures to bring to justice the practitioners of aggression and assassination,’ end quote. So he claims it wasn’t edited, then quoted the edited version as proof.

The Trump campaign convinced the platform committee to change Denman’s proposal. It went from calling on the U.S. to provide Ukraine “lethal defensive weapons” to the more benign phrase “appropriate assistance.

We are looking into the specific wording of “appropriate measures” vs “appropriate assistance”, but regardless of the semantics of the second half of this phrase, the change is real and documented. So Sen. Crawford, correctly quoted the amended RNC platform policy.

While this may seem a tiny semantic, it sheds light onto the Republican point of view of this entire hearing. They refuse to accept reality or responsibility. Manipulating threads of truth into their version.